Not Applicable.
Not Applicable.
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to communications and, more particularly, to systems and methods for monitoring incoming communications to a telecommunications device.
2. Description of the Background
Due to the proliferation of the Internet, the World Wide Web and user-friendly web browsers, millions of personal computer (PC) users have easy access to a great quantity of information and documents from around the world. Internet infrastructures are largely land-based, transmitting data over digital links and analog lines. Accordingly, all that is required for a typical PC user to connect to the Internet is a telephone line, a modem, and an Internet Service Provider (ISP), through which connection to the Internet is provided. Many, if not most, home PC users, however, have only one telephone line to their residential premises. Therefore, when the home PC user is connected to the Internet via the single telephone line, the telephone line is not capable of receiving incoming calls to the home PC user""s residential premises. Thus, if the home PC user receives an incoming call from a calling party during the course of an Internet session, the incoming call is not be completed and the calling party receives a busy signal. Moreover, conventional call-waiting services cannot remedy this problem because conventional call-waiting services must be disabled during an Internet session due to the fact that the conventional call-waiting signal would disrupt data transfer over the Internet via the single telephone line to the residential premises.
One solution to alleviate this problem are so-called xe2x80x9cInternet call-waitingxe2x80x9d (ICW) services. These services allow home Internet users to be notified of incoming calls while connected to the Internet. According to known ICW services, the home Internet user, after being notified of the incoming call, and sometimes even the name of the calling party, is provided the opportunity to disconnect from the Internet and accept the incoming call or remain connected to the Internet by rejecting the incoming call.
Another solution that many home PC users are pursuing is simply to install separate communications lines: one for their home PC and the other for incoming and outgoing telephone communications. The communication line for their PC may be another telephone line (a so-called xe2x80x9cdial-upxe2x80x9d connection) or it may be a more direct data communications link such as an ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) link or an ISDN (integrated digital services network) link. With any such two-line configuration, home PC users have the luxury of always being connected to the telephone network for receiving and transmitting telephone communications while connected to the Internet through their home PC.
New inconveniences arise, however, for many home PC users with a two-line configuration. Significantly, for a home PC user who subscribes to a caller ID service whereby the name and telephone number of a calling party are displayed on a visual display unit associated telephone line/device, when the home PC user receives an incoming call during an Internet session, the PC user cannot easily access the visual display unit in enough time to answer the incoming call after viewing the displayed name of the calling party unless the visual display unit is in extremely close proximity to the home PC user""s PC. This dilemma is especially vexing for residential premises in which the home PC and telephone are located in separate rooms or on separate floors.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a manner in which the name and telephone number of parties calling on a separate line may be revealed to home PC users connected to the Internet without the home PC user having to leave the confines of their PC environment.
The present invention is directed to a method for monitoring incoming communications to a telecommunications device. According to one embodiment, the method includes detecting an incoming communication on a first communications link to the telecommunications device, wherein the incoming communication is from a calling party. The method further includes retrieving information regarding to the calling party in response to detection of the incoming communication, and sending a message to a data communications device via a second communications link. The message contains the information regarding the calling party.
Detection of the incoming communication to the telecommunications device may be performed by a signal switching point (SSP) switch provisioned with a terminating attempt trigger specific to the service. When the SSP switch detects the incoming communication, it may send a message to a first service control point (SCP). The first service control point may retrieve information regarding the party placing the incoming communication. This information may be sent to a second SCP which, upon receiving the information from the first SCP, may retrieve an address for a data communications device, such as a personal computer (PC), and send the information to the data communications device at the retrieved address. The address may be an internet protocol (IP) address, and the message may be sent to the data communications device via a network employing, for example, the transport control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) suite of communications protocols to route packets of data. The data communications device may then display the information regarding the calling party to a user of the data communications device.
According to another embodiment, the present invention is also directed to a system for monitoring incoming communications to a telecommunications device. According to one embodiment, the system includes a switch and a service control point in communication with each other. The switch is for detecting an incoming communication to the telecommunications device from a calling party, wherein the switch is in communication with the telecommunications device by a first communications link. The service control point is for receiving a first message from the switch regarding detection of the incoming communication and for sending a second message to a data communications device, the second message containing information regarding the calling party, wherein the service control point is in communications with the data communications device by a second communications link.
Advantageously, embodiments of the present invention allow a user of the data communications device, such as a PC, to be notified of incoming communications to the telecommunications device, such as a remote telephone, without having to leave the environment of the PC. Consequently, a PC-user, while connected to the AIN, such as through the TCP/IP network, may monitor incoming calls to a remote telephone. These and other benefits of the invention will be apparent from the detailed description hereinbelow.